She's Changed Her Mind
by SineTimore
Summary: Beckett changes her mind about her favorite thing.


**Disclaimer:** I am not a Marlowe nor am I related to anyone with the last name Marlowe. Therefore, you can ascertain that _Castle_ does not belong to me. Sad but true.

**A/N:** I find fic writing to be a difficult but wonderful world to explore. Thanks to those who have offered support and to those whose writing has inspired me to try my hand, I simply adore you.

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"_How I love all of you! Do you feel me wrap you_

_Up with myself and my warmth, like a flame round the wick?..."_

_D.H. Lawrence, "Wedlock"_

If someone had asked her yesterday, her answer would have been different. Yesterday, and for all of the years they've known each other, his eyes were her favorite. His book jackets do them no justice. The descriptive 'blue' is entirely inadequate. To her they are like sapphires, reminiscent of the deepest oceans. He has no idea how they affect her, how they draw her in and unravel her, how she longs to see them every morning. Now, however, lying here, she knows of his entire body, his entire exquisite body…

She awakens before him on this morning, their first together, not that she got much sleep or now laments that fact. Sleep is still the very last thing on her mind as she rests in the slivers of early sun that peek through his bedroom windows. She remembers closing her eyes just hours before with his naked body wrapped around hers, his warm breath tickling her neck through her rain and passion tousled hair, his arm draped over her ribs, his hand at rest just above her heart – the heart she had just given to him.

She faces him now, having shifted unknowingly during the early morning hours. She wonders for just a moment if this is a dream but she's never felt this much…_anything_ after a dream. Her eyes examine his slumbering face and she admonishes herself for staring though he's none the wiser. She can't help herself. Her gaze travels to his lips and her mind and body are flooded with sensations from their uninhibited night together. She feels overwhelmed, not with trepidation or regret but rather with comfort - and more desire than she's ever felt in her life.

Her fingers touch her lips in remembrance of him being there. The urge to touch his is too powerful for her to ignore just as it had been the night before. As she extends her hand, he shifts his position, brushing her knee which is curled up into her body. It's the slightest of unintentional gestures but it might as well be a bolt of lightning for the effect it has on her.

He stirs for a moment until his eyes open slowly and come to rest on her body lying next to his. Like her, he hesitates, wondering if this is, in fact, reality. His doubt is quickly dispelled as she glides her hand through his adorably thoroughly hair and down his cheek.

"God, you're even more beautiful in my bed. How is that possible?"

"Well good morning to you too, Castle. A girl could get used to waking up to praises like that, you know."

"I certainly hope so, Detective. Luckily I'm prepared after four years of saving up."

She grins in acknowledgement and leans over him to place a soft kiss to his lips…because she can do that now.

"How long have you been awake?" he asks as he begins to stretch last night's activity from his bones.

"Just a little while," she replies running her fingertips over his bare chest.

"You should have woken me up. I think I would have gotten over it…or over you, perhaps," he teases noticing that she seems to have traveled somewhere in her mind. "Kate? What are you thinking about? Where did you go?"

It takes a few seconds for her to realize that he's looking at her now with apparent concern.

"What? I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

"I'm just wondering what's going on in that splendid mind of yours."

She hesitates and he tries not to think the worst, not to imagine that she's having second thoughts about all of this already. He can feel his pulse racing as he tries to brush that aside.

"I'm sorry, Castle. It's silly, really. It's nothing."

"Well then, it sounds right up my alley. Tell me."

After a moment of consideration she recognizes that he won't let this go and when he looks at her with _that_ face she has about as much chance of avoiding him as a moth can a flame.

"Okay, I...wait a second. We're not gonna have to do that thing now where we tell each other _everything_, right?"

"I wanna know as much as you're willing to share, Detective. Oh, plus whatever you were thinking about just then."

"I'm beginning to think that my early assessment of you was painfully accurate, Castle…a nine year-old on a sugar rush."

"Oh, you wound me so. Kiss me and I might forgive you."

Though she'd never give him the satisfaction of telling him so, all she's wanted to do since she woke up is kiss him. Everywhere. She rolls her eyes in faux protest and presses her lips to his, quickly at first before losing herself in him.

She finally pulls back from him after what feels like an eternity of tongues and teeth and breath.

"Okay, you're forgiven – for now – but one wrong step…"

"Shut it, Writer Boy. You gonna keep yapping or do you want to hear this so we can move on with more important things?"

"Important things sounds promising so, yes, hear this please."

She turns quiet and begins to feel the blush creep up her neck to her cheeks. It's a combination of embarrassment and arousal – more of the latter if she's honest. "So, I was watching you sleep this morning," she begins before being interrupted.

"That's kinda creepy, Beckett."

"Hello, pot? It's me, kettle" she retorts with disdain.

"Point taken. Continue." He props his head up with interest having no idea where she's going with any of this. He watches her intently as she attempts to convey her thoughts.

"I've changed my mind" comes out of her in somewhat blurted fashion.

He's confused and clearly disappointed. "You're not gonna tell me?"

Her discomfort grows more apparent now and she's fumbling. "No, sorry, that's not what I meant, Castle."

"Okay, then…"

"I've change my mind about you…or about your eyes, I mean."

"What the hell's wrong with my eyes, Beckett?" he asks sounding affronted.

She has to sit up now. She's doing this all wrong and she has to find focus. Lying next to him isn't helping matters at all especially since the sheet keeps inching down his body whenever he moves. "Nothing's _wrong_ with them, Castle!" It comes out harshly which isn't at all the intention and she can tell that he's now desperate for an explanation. "Your eyes have always been my favorite thing about you – the physical you, that is – but now…"

With every fiber of his being he's fighting the smile that's attempting to kidnap his face. He can see how difficult this is for her. This is Kate Beckett. She isn't what anyone would call a 'sharer'. "But now?" he asks less worried and even more intrigued than he had been a moment ago.

"Now…your hands, I can't stop thinking about your hands." As the revelation spills from her mouth, her brain bombards her with images of last night like lightning flashing: her neck, her face, her breasts, her hair, her stomach, her thighs – on, over, in, above, around. Her eyes inadvertently close as she absorbs and relishes every moment.

He extricates himself completely from the sheet and kneels in front of her, softly taking both sides of her face into his hands. She takes a moment to open her eyes to him, not certain what to expect; however, she braces herself for his ego's reply.

"Why do I get the feeling that it pained you greatly to tell me this?"

"You're quite astute this morning, Castle, and you haven't even had your coffee yet."

His hands find their way to hers and his grin transforms into something more serious. "Kate, I know that this feels very new but we've known each other for four years. We've been through so much together. You shouldn't feel afraid or embarrassed to tell me how powerful, glorious and life-altering my body parts are."

Her eye roll is rainbow-sized. "Gee, Castle, I wonder why I hesitated to share this with you." Her sarcasm is palpable and he just loves frustrated Beckett.

"In all seriousness, Kate, I love that you shared this with me. I want you to feel safe with me always." He brings her palms to his lips and kisses each affectionately. He cannot believe that they are here, in this place, together, after all of this time.

She knows that he's not trying to turn this moment into something more but when he talks to her like that and touches her like that and kisses her like that…her heart quickens. She suddenly wonders how many parts the human body has and grins slightly in hopes that it's 365 – one for each day of the year. Yes, for the first time in her life she feels that she could get used to this.


End file.
